Deliver Us from Evil (2020)

Deliver Us from Evil is the kind of hard-boiled action thriller that grabs you by the collar and never loosens its grip, marrying slick, street-level craft with a surprisingly human pulse beneath the gunfire. Hong Won-chan stages shootouts and close-quarters fights with a brutal clarity that makes every impact feel earned, while the Thailand setting gives the film a sweaty, neon-tinged urgency that keeps the momentum charging forward. Hwang Jung-min’s calm, sealed-off intensity makes the hero fascinating to watch, and Lee Jung-jae brings a flamboyant, unpredictable menace that turns the cat-and-mouse into something electric. It’s not for the squeamish—this is severe, often gory violence—but if you want a relentless crime-action ride with real style and two powerhouse performances, it delivers.

Deliver Us from Evil wants to be a lean, hard-edged rescue thriller with a weary professional forced back into violence, and it mostly delivers that at a brisk pace. The problem is it leans heavily on familiar genre beats—stoic hitman, kidnapped child, relentless avenger—so if you’ve seen a few of these, you’ll predict the turns well before the movie gets there. The emotional stakes also take their time to land, and the split focus between storylines can make it feel more like a series of set pieces than a tightly wound descent. Still, the action is competently staged and the leads bring enough intensity to keep it watchable, but if you’re not in the mood for severe gore wrapped around a well-worn plot, this won’t change your mind.